The Bondwoman's Narrative

Rating:
Summary: You have to enjoy this style of writing
Review: This book may have great value as a historical document, however, I evaluate it from the 'fun to read' point of view. I did not find it a greatly enjoyable read. It is written in the old novel style- "Perils of Pauline" comes to mind. Neither did I find that I learned much about it was like to live like a slave during that time. I am now reading a historical novel in which there are a few pages describing a slave market in the USA during the Revolution; which gave me a much clearer picture than Bondwoman's Narrative did. The description of how the field hands lived left me wishing to read more about that, and in fact, I felt I did not even get a good picture of how the house servants lived. There was quite a bit of philosophizing during the entire book so the author came across as an intellectual. In this respect, her comments about the death of a fellow runaway slave towards the end of the novel were very interesting to me.

Rating:
Summary: An enthralling legacy
Review: Written in the 1850s by Hannah Crafts and edited for a modern readership by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Bondwoman's Narrative is the only known novel authored by a female African American slave, and perhaps the first novel ever written by a black woman. Describing the story of "passing" as a young slave treks toward freedom, The Bondwoman's Narrative is an enthralling legacy which is especially recommended for university African-American literature collections and community library large print fiction shelves.